> From what I've heard, a number of IT departments used it as justification to dump legacy systems.
> In reality, they probably could have updated the mainframe systems to be Y2K-compliant.
Legacy systems weren't always mainframe systems and, in any case a “legacy system” is precisely one you are no longer confident you can safely update for changing business requirements.
A change in a pervasive assumption touching many parts of a system (like “all dates are always in the 20th century”) is precisely the kind of thing that is high risk with a legacy systems.
> In reality, they probably could have updated the mainframe systems to be Y2K-compliant.
Legacy systems weren't always mainframe systems and, in any case a “legacy system” is precisely one you are no longer confident you can safely update for changing business requirements.
A change in a pervasive assumption touching many parts of a system (like “all dates are always in the 20th century”) is precisely the kind of thing that is high risk with a legacy systems.